WEST CHESTER, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Papyrus Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering the development of extracellular tumor suppressor therapies, announces the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board [SAB]. James [Jim] B. Lorens Ph.D., Professor of Biomedicine at the University of Bergen, Norway, will chair the SAB. The board is comprised of internationally renowned cancer researchers and clinicians and includes Michael J. Birrer M.D., Ph.D., R Charles Coombes FMedSci, Carl-Henrik Heldin M.D., Ph.D and Jean Paul Thiery Ph.D.
Paul Blake FRCP, CEO said “We are honored and excited to have such a strong group of experts to join us at this time as we advance our pipeline towards clinical development. Their expertise and insights will be very valuable to the company in our pursuit of developing therapeutics to restore tumor suppressor function for patients with cancer.”
Jim Lorens, chair of the SAB, added, “It is a privilege to chair this distinguished SAB and I look forward to engaging with the members and leveraging their extensive oncology drug development and translational experience in the advancement of Papyrus’ pioneering development of extracellular tumor suppressor therapies.”
Michael J Birrer MD, Ph.D. is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. A leading expert and thought leader in the genomics of gynecological cancers and translational oncology Dr. Birrer was previously Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of Gynecologic Medical Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Gynecologic Oncology Research Program at the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Prior to that he was the Chair of the Gynecologic Oncology Working Group, Division of Clinical Sciences, Deputy Branch Chief of Cell and Cancer Biology Branch, NCI.
Raoul Charles Coombes FRCP, MD, FMedSci is Professor of Medical Oncology, Imperial College, London and Co-director of the Imperial Breast Cancer Research Program. Prof Coombes has broad experience in cancer drug development and translational oncology, with specific expertise in estrogen receptor function in breast cancer and the role of CDK7 in endocrine resistant breast cancer. He is also a past Chairman of the International Collaborative Cancer Group
Carl-Henrik Heldin M.D., Ph.D. is Chairman of the Board of the Nobel Foundation, Professor in Molecular Cell Biology at Uppsala University and ex-Branch Director at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. He is a leading expert in the mechanisms of growth factor and receptor tyrosine kinase signal transduction and their role in diseases such as cancer. He is also the chair of the Boards of the Science for Life Laboratory, and EMBL-node Molecular Infection Biology Sweden. He was Vice President of the European Research Council until 2014 and Chair of the European Molecular Biology Organization until 2020.
Jean Paul Thiery Ph.D. is Professor and Senior Scientist at the National Laboratory, Guangzhou, China. A world-renowned expert in cell biology and stem cell science, Prof. Thiery was the first to describe epithelial-mesenchymal transition [EMT], the process that controls carcinoma cell invasion and dissemination. He is a former Deputy Director of A*STAR IMCB Singapore, head of translational research at Institut Curie Comprehensive Cancer Center, and head of CNRS laboratory at Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris. He is a Co-Founder and Chairman of Biocheetah Pte. Ltd, a diagnostics company focused on urological cancers.
About Papyrus Therapeutics Inc.: Papyrus Therapeutics, Inc. (West Chester, PA, USA) is an emerging biopharma company developing novel tumor suppressor-based therapies. Papyrus´ lead therapeutic is a modified, recombinant version of Opioid Binding Protein/Cell Adhesion Molecule-like (OPCML). OPCML is a broadly acting tumor suppressor that is epigenetically silenced in many cancers, leading to tumor invasion and metastasis through deregulation of apoptosis, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cellular migration. Classic receptor tyrosine kinase [RTK] inhibition using small molecules has proven highly effective in many cancers, but treatment resistance remains a significant challenge. Delivery of OPCML, which works at the cell surface, can overcome this challenge by reconstituting normal RTK signaling in the tumor.
